Trump blasts 'disgraceful performance' by 'unselect' Jan. 6 committee

Speaking at a Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Nashville on Friday, former President Donald Trump denounced the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot as a group of "con artists" after spending a week showcasing its efforts on primetime television.

"There's no clearer example of the menacing spirit that has devoured the American left than the disgraceful performance being staged by the unselect committee," he told the crowd, per ABC News.

The Jan. 6 committee is largely run by Democrats, who hold a slim majority in the House. Trump's remark about the "unselect" committee likely refers to the Democrats' rejection of Republican nominees to the panel in favor of known Trump opponents within the GOP. The participating Republicans, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, both voted to impeach Trump.

Over the week, the committee has attempted to make the case that the 45th president knew his claims of voter fraud affecting the election's outcome were false, but proceeded to push them anyway in a bid to overturn the result. In his Friday speech, Trump blasted the committee for selectively displaying evidence to his detriment. "The committee refuses to play any of the tape of people saying the good things, the things that we want to hear," he said, per ABC. "It's a one-way street. It's a rigged deal."

He went on to flip the script and accused the committee of disseminating misinformation and acting out of personal malice.

"What you’re seeing is a total lie — a total fraud," Trump said, according to News Channel 5. "That might have been the calmest speech I have ever made. They have their narrative, and they know we are leading in every single poll. These are vicious people just like crazy Liz Cheney. They are refusing to release the videos of the transcripts. They are beautiful transcripts. They can call it science or whatever. They have a thing called disinformation."

Trump, on Thursday, demanded equal time from television networks to make his own case and counter the House committee's narrative. Such a request, however, is unlikely to be honored amid ongoing censorship of the former president's position.

Major media companies, especially digital platforms, have adopted misinformation policies preventing the discussion of election fraud claims. YouTube's policy, in particular, is so rigid, that the platform removed a clip posted by the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday for including a segment in which Trump spoke on the Fox Business Network about election fraud.

The country is currently experiencing record inflation, a volatile stock market, international military threats from Russia and China; gas prices averaging over $5 per gallon, and an unprecedented rate of illegal crossings at the Southern Border. Amid these issues, a mere 16% of Americans say the country is on the right track, according to a Friday USA Today/Suffolk Poll. A plurality of Democrats, 46%, say the opposite, agreeing with a whopping 71% of Americans overall who say the country is moving the wrong way.

Trump has described the hearings as a distraction from Democrats "desperate to change the narrative of a failing nation."